The four claim, ~29,000 hectare, Rio Novo property is strategically located within the Carajás district of Brazil, one of the world's most prolific mining camps. Carajás is one of the world's greatest iron ore mining districts and is host to five of the ten largest iron oxide copper gold ("IOCG") deposits in the world. IOCG deposits are similar to porphyry copper deposits, with resources that range up to hundreds of millions of tonnes grading ~1% copper, frequently associated with gold, rare earth, and uranium minerals. The property also hosts excellent exploration potential for precious metals and iron ore deposits.
The Company approved a 2011 exploration budget of $3 million for the Rio Novo property. The exploration program anticipates a diamond drill program of 10,000 m at the Rio Novo North target to evaluate the potential for a similar deposit to Serra Pelada and at the southern claims to evaluate copper-gold targets. The 2011 exploration program also includes the development of new targets and further geochemical and geophysical work on various known targets on the property.
Rio Novo North Target
The Rio Novo North property is contiguous to and located 2 km west of the historic Serra Pelada gold-platinum-palladium deposit which is currently being developed by Colossus Minerals Inc. Serra Pelada, discovered in 1979, hosted the largest ever gold rush in Latin America. During the 1980's, an estimated two million ounces of gold plus platinum and palladium were produced from the Serra Pelada mine. INV Metals' Rio Novo property hosts geology similar to that at the Serra Pelada deposit; Archean metasediments of the Rio Fresco Group, intruded by several ages of mafic-ultramafic and granitoid plutons. The encouraging results of the 2010 auger and diamond drill programs corroborate the potential for the Rio Novo North property to host the possible strike extension of the Serra Pelada high grade platinum-palladium-gold mineralization.
In 2010, INV Metals completed 5 initial diamond drill holes totalling 1,260 m and 41 auger drill holes totalling 372 metres. The diamond drilling intersected favourable host rocks containing highly anomalous precious metal values including: 0.91 grams per tonne (g/t) combined Au-Pd-Pt over 4.4 m, 0.96 g/t Au-Pd-Pt over 2 m, and 1.1 g/t Au-Pd-Pt over 1 metre. The auger drilling confirmed a number of Au-Pd-Pt soil anomalies located on the western portion of the Rio Novo North claim with highly anomalous values including intervals of 4 m of 39 ppb Au, 78 ppb Pd, 14 ppb Pt and 20 m of 42 ppb Pd. The auger drilling targeted a number of precious metals soil anomalies and verified five discrete soil anomalies that warrant diamond drill testing. See INV Metals' press release dated January 26, 2011 for further details.
A diamond drill program is underway at the Rio Novo North target to further test the target.
RN-7 Target
INV Metals completed a 1,570 m diamond drill program in March 2010 to test several targets at RN-7. Holes RND-31 and RND-32 were drilled to test a strong 1.8 km long conductor identified by a VTEM, subsequent to a historical two-hole drill program which intersected 0.66% copper over 102 m (hole RND-29) and 0.40% copper over 69 m (hole RND-30). Hole RND-33 was drilled to further test a strong soil geochemical anomaly, 400 m west of hole RND-29. Hole RND-34 tested a copper in soil geochemical anomaly with a coincident VTEM conductor 800 m west of RND-33.
The VTEM conductor was explained by the presence of brecciated to massive hydrothermal magnetite, which is the classic host rock for copper mineralization in iron oxide copper-gold ("IOCG") deposits. Although no significant grades of copper mineralization were intersected, disseminated to patchy chalcopyrite occurs throughout all of the boreholes, along with intense chlorite-albite-garnet-actinolite-hydrothermal magnetite alteration characteristic of large IOCG systems. In hole RND-34, a thick oxidized interval contained several patches of native copper. The drilling to-date at target RN-7 indicates an intense alteration system within typical IOCG deposit host rocks with pervasive anomalous copper mineralization over a strike length of at least 2.4 kilometres. See INV Metals' press release dated April 28, 2010 for further details.
Exploration work is planned at RN-7 in 2011 to further test the target.
RN-11 Target
INV Metals drilled 9 holes to test the RN-11 target, comprised of a 2.4 km long by 400 to 500 m wide copper in soil geochemical anomaly roughly coincidental with gold and cobalt soil geochemical anomalies, as well as a magnetic anomaly, and partially coincidental with a moderate IP geophysical anomaly.
The mineralization at RN-11 occurs as veins, disseminations and discrete patches of chalcopyrite within strongly altered host rocks comprised of garnet-chlorite-biotite-magnetite-actinolite schists, interpreted to be originally metasediments and iron formation, in contact with a very siliceous quartzite, which also contains disseminations and stringers of chalcopyrite, pyrite and locally arsenopyrite. See INV Metals' press release dated October 8, 2010 for further details.
Exploration work is planned at RN-11 in 2011 to further test the target.
RN-4 Target
The RN-4 prospect hosts a copper in soil anomaly approximately 1 km by 700 m, with peak values of 935 ppm copper and 132 ppb gold. A four line IP survey was completed which identified a strong chargeability anomaly. Three historic holes were drilled with hole DD-09 returning assay results of 58 m grading 0.38% copper, along with anomalous molybdenum throughout the hole. There is a strong VTEM anomaly which is interpreted to be situated beneath DD-10 which intersected 11.2 m grading 0.43% copper.
Exploration work is planned at RN-4 in 2011 to further test the target.
Iron Targets
There are at least three iron ore targets on the property including: a) a high grade hematitic iron formation over a strike length of 1,200 m with auger drill intersections of up to 79.2% Fe2O3 over 11 m; b) a north-south trending >5 km long iron formation from which grab samples returned values up to 97.6% Fe2O3; and c) an iron formation associated with IOCG target RN-7.
